Hezbollah leader vows to hit new Israeli targets if civilians killed

AFP , Wednesday 17 Jul 2024

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Wednesday that his resistance group would hit new targets in Israel if more civilians are killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

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File photo- Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah giving a televised address from an undisclosed location in Lebanon. AFP

 

The Lebanese resistance movement has exchanged almost daily fire with Israeli troops in support of Gaza since Israel laounched its war on the Palestinian Strip.

"If the enemy continues to target civilians as it has done in recent days, then this will push us to target localities that we have not targeted until now," Nasrallah said.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israeli strikes in the south killed five people, including three Syrian children, on Tuesday.

In response, Hezbollah said it launched rounds of Katyusha rockets at northern Israel.

Nasrallah warned Israel of the consequences of any invasion of Lebanon, saying Israel would be left without any tanks if a full-blown conflict erupted.

The Israeli army said last month that "operational plans for an attack on Lebanon were approved and validated".

Nasrallah, speaking during Muslim Ashura commemorations, also pledged to assist thousands of Lebanese whose homes have been destroyed by cross-border fire.

"We assure residents whose homes have been completely or partially demolished that we will work with you, hand in hand... we will rebuild our homes," he said.

Since October, the cross-border violence has killed 511 people in Lebanon, including at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

The violence, largely restricted to the border area, has raised fears of all-out conflict between the foes, who last went to war in the summer of 2006.

 

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